1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an automatic ticket-examining apparatus, usually installed at the entrances and exits of stations for the traffic facilities, for processing wireless tickets.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent railroads, automatic ticket-examining equipment has been installed in the entrances and exits in railway facilities to save labor in punching, examining, or collecting tickets at the gates.
When the passenger passes through the ticket gate for entering the station or transferring from the station, the automatic ticket-examining equipment transmits/receives the inspection information stored in the wireless cards as wireless tickets for wireless communication. The automatic ticket-examining equipment checks for the validity of the wireless cards on the basis of the inspection information. The automatic ticket-examining equipment allows the passenger to enter or leave the station if the wireless card is valid. The automatic ticket-examining equipment prohibits the passenger from entering or leaving the station if the wireless card is invalid. This conventional automatic ticket-examining equipment is shown in the U.S. Pat. No. 5,397,883 (Miyashita). The automatic ticket-examining equipment may transmit/receive the inspection information, stored in the wireless cards, by holding the wireless cards near an antenna portion located at the automatic ticket-examining equipment without any additional process by the passenger for ticket disposal services.
However, the manufacturing cost of the wireless card is high. Therefore a kind of ticket or card to be convertible to the wireless card are limited season pass or stored fare card, which are used repeatedly by individual using traffic.
When the passenger uses the wireless ticket as an ordinary ticket that needs collecting at the ticket, gate for exit, the automatic ticket-examining equipment allows the passenger to pass through the ticket gate by not, contacting with the automatic ticket-examining equipment. Therefore it is difficult to collect the wireless card as the ordinary ticket, which needs collecting at the ticket gate for exit of the railway.